More Treats for February

The month of February needs lots of treats to sweeten it, I've always thought! Although the shortest month in days, it seems like the longest in weather. Right now we're in the middle of an mean cold blast and warm comforting desserts can help lift the mood. 

Here are a couple I've made this month. The Glazed Cherry Coffee Cake is a favorite and the flavors can be varied with different flavors of pie filling and cake mix. Apple pie filling and spice cake mix for fall would be good. I like this recipe because it starts with a cake mix (easy) and adds flour and yeast for a more bread like coffeecake. 

And, I'd searched for a rice pudding recipe that uses cooked rice instead of starting with uncooked rice. I had leftover rice that needed a new preparation. This rice pudding is easy and the strawberry-rhubarb compote from the cheesecake (last post) made it super tasty. 

GLAZED CHERRY COFFEE CAKE

 

Ingredients: 

1 box yellow cake mix (will be divided)

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cup very warm tap water

1 pkg. dry yeast (2 ½ tsp.)

2 large eggs

5 Tbs. melted butter

1 can cherry pie filling

2 Tbs. granulated sugar

2 Tbs. warm melted butter

¼ cup sliced almonds

 

Glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar + 1 Tbs. melted butter + 1 tsp. vanilla + pinch of salt

 

Instructions:

1.    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups cake. Mix with flour and yeast. Add water and eggs. With an electric mixer, beat the ingredients 2 minutes, scraping bowl often; the batter will be very thick. Spread the prepared batter into the bottom of a greased 9x13-inch baking pan, smoothing out the batter. 

2.    Spoon the cherry pie filling over the top of the cake batter in the baking pan. 

3.    In a medium bowl, combine the remaining dry cake mix with the melted butter to make the topping. Crumble the topping over the cherry pie filling, then sprinkle the top with sugar and sliced almonds.  

4.    Bake the cake on the center rack of the oven, uncovered, for 30-35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. (There should be no cake batter on the knife, but there may be some cherry pie filling on it)

5.    When the cake is done, place the pan onto a cooling rack. Mix the glaze ingredients together, stirring in the milk a little bit at a time until the desired consistency is reached.  Glaze the cake while it is still warm, but not hot. 

 

 

Variations: 

Works with white cake mix also, use whole egg

Any flavor cake mix – pie filling combination

Yellow + blueberry or peach or strawberry

Spice + apple

Chocolate + cherry

 

RICE PUDDING                        

 

Ingredients:

1 ½ cups cooked rice

¼ cup craisins

2 large eggs

1 ½ cups whole milk

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

 

Directions:

1.    Place rice and craisins in a greased 1-qt. casserole. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, sugar, and nutmeg; pour over rice. 

2.    Bake, uncovered, at 375 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool. Pour milk over each serving if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.